Transition
by cloneslaw
Summary: Sarah is 14 years old and living with her foster mother and younger foster brother, Felix, and gets uprooted from her home to be taken somewhere new. She begins getting suspicious of Mrs. S' actions. Helena is living in a convent in Ukraine and is "saved" only to realize things aren't what they seem.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so this is our first OB fanfiction. Any and all reviews/critiques are welcome!**

* * *

_Canada. 1998. 8:24 PM._

"No, like this," Sarah says with a small laugh, showing her younger brother, Felix how to play a game of checkers. Felix makes his move and Sarah's eyes flicker to look at her foster mother standing by the front window, seemingly looking at something through squinting eyes suspiciously. "It's your turn, Sarah," Felix's voice rings, and she looks back at the game board, dismissing Mrs. S' strange but usual behavior; she always seemed to be on the look out for something.

Sarah and Felix carry on playing and Mrs. S begins to pace the room, finally walking over to the children. "Who wants to go on a bit of a holiday?" she asks, forcing a smile. Little Felix jumps up, forgetting completely about the checkers game. "I do!" he says excitedly, jumping up and down in front of Mrs. S, a beaming smile on his face. So what if he only wanted to go because he'd get to miss school? "What, like now?" Sarah asks, butting in, being the stubborn and curious teenager she was. Mrs. S gives her a look as if to say 'leave it alone, Sarah' and replies "Yeah, only for a little while." Sarah disregards Mrs. S. continues with her questioning. "What were you looking at outside?" Felix nudges Sarah to shut up, wondering why she was trying to ruin a good thing. "Nothing," Mrs. S says firmly and quickly, "now go pack your things and be ready in 20 minutes."

Sarah doesn't buy it, and begins getting angry - she's finally settled down, she even likes her new school and classmates. She's afraid that if they leave, they might not come back. "No. Why?" she argues, "I don't want to go. I'm not going," Mrs. S. huffs slightly "Don't try me little girl, go-" but Sarah interrupts again and shouts "No, I don't want to go. You can't make me!" Mrs S., really calmly, replies "Are you sure about that?" Felix backs away and stares at Mrs. S. He knows where this is leading. Felix pulls the arm of Sarah's hoodie, but Sarah, undeterred by Fee's presence, doesn't take her eyes off of Mrs. S. Felix, meaning to protect Sarah, says, "Come on, Sarah. It'll be fun." Sarah looks away from Mrs. S and down at Felix. Her eyes soften and her scowl turns into a smile. "Alright," she says "you're right it might be fun, yeah?" Felix nods and grabs Sarah's arm and pulls her toward the stairs leading to their bedrooms. She follows him reluctantly. On the way to the stairs and even as they walk up them, Sarah looks at Mrs. S. suspiciously, as Siobhan goes back to the window to look out into the darkness.

Sarah and Felix go up to their rooms and pack. As they're finishing up, Sarah asks Felix, "Did you pack your things, meathead?" Felix nods and Sarah smiles after him. Even in her young age, Sarah's always looked out for her younger brother because, subconsciously, she doesn't want Felix to grow up the same way she did, feeling like nobody really cares. Sarah slings her now heavy backpack over her shoulder and ushers Felix down the stairs to see Mrs. S frantically getting her own things together, packing some food for the road.

Sarah still feels an anxious pit in her stomach like something isn't right. While Mrs. S has her back turned, she creeps over to the window she had been looking out of and peers through. She searches around for something, anything that would explain what Mrs. S was so on edge about. Seeing nothing but the night, she wonders what could be out there that's so terrifying that they had to up and leave at this hour.

Mrs. S taps Sarah's back, "Bollocks!" Sarah exclaims startled. Sarah slowly turns around to find Mrs. S with her hand on her hips, staring at Sarah accusingly. Sarah searches for the words to say, but only comes up with, "Um", and before she knows it, Mrs. S pulls Sarah away from the window and towards the living room.

"I'm tired of you undermining me, Sarah. You are the child, and I am the parent, and last I checked, that meant, you do as I say, not the other way 'round." Mrs S says not too loud, but loud enough for Sarah to hear what she's saying. Felix hides behind a couch and watches from a safe distance. Sarah pulls her arm from Mrs. S' grasp and screams "You are not my mum! I don't have to do anything YOU say." Mrs. S raises her hand to go and strike Sarah, Sarah closes her eyes and braces for impact.

Felix runs from behind the couch and stands in front of Mrs. S and screams, "Don't hurt my sister!" Mrs. S sees Felix - tiny, trembling Felix - and drops her hand with a sigh. "Everything I do is to protect you both. Everything I do is out of love. Even if you don't see me as your mum, you are my children. You are right, I am not your mum, and you do not have to do everything I want you to. But I need you to trust me on this, yeah?"

Sarah opens her eyes and looks at Mrs S, with a hint of resentment mixed with mostly, a look of understanding in her eyes. Mrs. S holds the side of Sarah's face in her hand and smiles at her, like a mother would, "Just this once, love. Please." Sarah moves Mrs. S' hands off of her face after a moment. "Alright. It won't take long, yeah?" Mrs S. pats as now relaxed Felix's head, and nods.

"Yeah."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Merzota

Sarah leaves the apartment, and slowly walks over to Mrs. S' pick-up truck with her bags in her hands and an upset look painted all over her face. This was usually her attitude when she was forced to do something Mrs. S wanted her to do, but tonight, she had every reason to be upset.

Felix runs out after Sarah and straight to the truck. Mrs. S exits the house and locks the door. She's dressed entirely in black, which only takes Sarah's suspicions further. What was she hiding from, or who she's hiding from?, Sarah thought. Mrs. S walks down the pathway to the fairly new orange truck, but before getting in, she stops, turns around, and looks at the house thoughtfully.

Sarah puts her bags in the back of the pick up and as she goes to sit shotgun in the car, she notices Mrs. S looking at the home they'd been living in for over a year. She recognizes that look, it's the goodbye look, which almost always meant they weren't coming back and they were gonna move again. Start all over again. Felix didn't really mind because he was too young to even care, but Sarah was finally starting to enjoy it here. Her and Felix weren't getting bullied anymore, she didn't argue with Mrs S half as much as she did before they moved here. Everything was nearly perfect. Everything was so close to being…normal.

Sarah pushes down the regret she feels about having gotten attached to the place, snaps out of it, and gets into the car. Mrs S hops into the drivers seat, after tossing her stuff in the back and surveying the area. She starts the car and before she pulls off, she turns to face Felix smiling and says, "You ready, monkey?" Felix nods enthusiastically with a massive smile spread across his face, Mrs. S smiles back. As Mrs. S turns to face Sarah, the smile washing from her face. "And you?" she asks, sternly, more of a 'are you going to behave yourself now?'. Sarah stares straight ahead, her arms crossed over her chest. "It doesn't matter. So lets just get on with it," she replies wryly. Mrs. S shakes her head, knowing it was the best response she was going to get, and that it was best to just take it.

Mrs. S shifts the gear into drive and hits the gas pedal, which causes the car to lurch forward for a moment. She pulls out of the driveway and down the road toward their next destination.

* * *

Ukraine. 1996. The Convent.

Off of the outskirts of Ukraine, a convent stands high and mighty, like the God the nuns that inhabit it, most likely pray to.

Inside the darkly lit convent, a group of nuns accompanied by a little girl, with pale blonde hair, sit at the table eating supper. The nuns are eating in a "proper" manner, and the girl… was not. As the little girl animalistically scarfs down the scraps of food on her plate, the nuns glance over to her with looks of disgust on their faces. The nun who sits at the head of the table and adjacent to the small child, stops eating, rests her fork and knife down beside her plate.

"Helena." the woman says in Ukrainian, with a low, domineering tone.

Helena does not hear the nun and continues to devour her food.

"Helena!" the woman now yelled, ending her attempts to try and – somewhat – calmly tell the girl what she had to say.

Helena, having now heard the upset nun, stops eating and looks around the table to see all of the nuns glaring back at her. Helena spits the food in her mouth out into the table napkin sitting next to her plate. The women surrounding her, all collectively look away out of disgust for what Helena just did. The little girl wipes her mouth with the sleeve of her black habit, sits up straight in her seat, bows her head in shame, and waits to be scolded.

"What have I said about eating like an animal, child?"

"That only animals eat like animals, Sister Anna," Helena says with her head still bowed.

"Correct, now, pick up your fork," the nun demands, and Helena does as she is commanded. "And your knife," the nun includes. Helena picks up her knife. "Now," she continues, "eat like a little girl". Helena lifts her head, she looks around at the faces that are no longer looking at her, but down at their plates. Helena knows what this means – Sister Anna is out for blood, and they don't want to watch.

Helena hunches over her plate and goes to stick her her fork into a piece of cabbage on her plate. When she gets close, Sister Anna picks up her own fork and jabs Helena's back, reinforcing her, in a cruel manner, to sit up straight. Helena winces, she doesn't want the sister to see her cry. Helena sits up straight and scans around the table once more for help, no one is even glancing in Helena's direction. Helena tries again and cuts a piece of cabbage with her knife and fork. As she raises the fork to her mouth, the nun, slaps her hand with her fork again, this time on her knuckle. Helena winces again and retracts her hand. It hurt, but no, she will not see her in pain.

"Do not be wasteful," says the Sister, pointing to the napkin with the food Helena spit out.

Helena looks at the napkin then back at the nun. "No," Helena tells her, disobeying the nun's requests.

All of the nuns, including Sister Anna, look at Helena's face. Pure unadulterated anger emanates from her expression. Helena is holding the knife and fork tightly in her hand. Her hands and body are now vibrating with the rage she tried so hardly to hold back.

Sister Anna stares back at Helena with wrath in her eyes. "What did you say, dog?"

Helena's body relaxes and a menacing smile that could put the fear of God into anyone spreads across her cracked, dry lips. A flicker of shock washes over Sister Anna's face, and before she could fully grasp what was about to happen, Helena climbs up on top of the table and jumps down on Sister Anna, tipping over the chair Sister Anna was sitting in and Helena starts slashing the woman beneath her with the knife and fork in her hand, barking while she does so.

As the woman lay unconscious on the floor in the dining area, bleeding out, two nuns tends to her neck wounds (to no avail) and the rest carry Helena kicking, biting, and barking down the now night lit corridor of the convent. As they approach the end of the hallway, which leads to another entrance to a stairway, Helena notices and starts begging that the women don't put her down there. After a bit of struggle, the sisters are able to bring Helena downstairs to the cellar that's candlelit. Helena starts crying, and she stops screaming, kicking, scratching…and begins pleading, soon to realize there was nothing she could do now. One of the nuns lets go and unlocks the door to the cellar. The nuns throw her in and quickly lock the door, and Helena crawls further into the darkness of the cellar.

Upstairs in the dining area, prayers are being said in Ukrainian over Sister Anna, by a nun with a bible and rosary in her hand.

Downstairs in the cellar, the nuns leave, but one stays behind.

Helena rocks back and forth in the corner of the cellar, repeating over and over again something quickly in Ukrainian – "Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified in Thy saying, and clear when Thou art judged. Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me. Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

The nun that stays behind goes close to the cellar door, when she does, Helena goes silent. The Sister whispers into the darkness, "Helena," but there is no answer. The second time the woman goes to say the child's name, before she can say the name, Helena jumps out the shadows, grabs the bars and starts barking at the nun.

The woman startled falls to the ground, scrambles to get up, and when she succeeds in doing so she screams, "Merzota!" and spits at the ground between her an Helena.

"Abomination!", the horrified woman repeats.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah leans her face on her clenched fist, her elbow leaning on the center console in the truck. She stares blankly ahead, still rather upset over the night's events. In the back, Felix sleeps soundly. An old song plays on the radio on a low volume, just enough to hear the general tune but not enough to make out any lyrics. Mrs. S looks from the dark road ahead and over to Sarah for a moment, checking if she, too, was asleep, and averting her attention back to the road. "I know you're angry, love," she says softly, and Sarah rolls her eyes, scoffing and shifting in her seat, resting her hands in her lap and laying her head against the window.

Mrs. S sighs softly, leaning back more comfortably in her seat, resting one arm across the door where the window was rolled down and keeping the other firmly gripped on the wheel. "I don't expect you to understand, but one day you will," she tried. "Save it," Sarah mumbled, keeping her eyes off of her foster mother. Mrs. S begins becoming slightly frustrated with the stubborn teen. "You know, Sarah, I don't have to do anything for you, I choose to, out of love." Sarah sits up and looks at Mrs. S now with a look that could kill. Her eyes pierced into her. "Yeah? Well I didn't ask for you to take me in!" she said, rather loudly. "Hush, now," Mrs. S scolds her in a loud whisper, "Felix is asleep."

Sarah sighs and looks into the back seat to find Felix still fast asleep, and she slumps back into her seat. "How's about we just don't talk for the rest of the trip, yeah?" she says, looking forward. "Why do you always have to fight me?" Mrs. S pauses for a response, but knows she's not going to get one and just gives up. You can't make Sarah do anything she doesn't want to do, and Mrs. S knew that more than anyone else. Siobhan moves her free hand onto the wheel to join her other one, continuing along down the path. As the two grow quiet, Sarah drifts off to sleep, she wakes when she hears the sound of a car pulling off beside her.

Sarah gathers her bearings and sits up groggily in her seat. She looks around, Mrs. S isn't in the car, but Felix is still curled up in a ball sleeping soundly in his seat. Sarah looks out of her window and sees that they're in a gas station, and Mrs S in on a pay phone.

Sarah couldn't hear what Mrs. S. was saying so she rolled down her car window just enough so she could hear.

"Are you sure we would be safe there, Brenda?" Mrs S asked the person on the other end of the phone, "I can't risk the lives of my children, I have to know it's saf- alright then, we're close. We'll be there in a bit."

Mrs. S. hangs up the phone and turns to the direction of the car, Sarah sees this, rolls up her window, and quickly assumes the position she was in before she awoke. Mrs. S. steps inside of the truck as quietly as she possibly can. She takes a quick look to see if anyone's awaken from their sleep. Seeing that both of the children are asleep, or so she thinks, Mrs. S rests her head on the wheel and starts sobbing quietly, unaware that Sarah is really awake. She lifts her head up, wipes her eyes and face, and pushes a piece of her dark hair behind her ear. Before starting the car she takes a deep breath.

Sarah thinks to herself about the last time she saw Mrs. S. cry, and as she drifts deeper and deeper into sleep, she realizes, no. Mrs. S. never cried. Never.

To Sarah, It felt like she'd slept for at most a minute before she awoke to the car coming to a halt and the front door slamming.  
From outside of the car, Mrs. S. knocks on Sarah's window, startling Sarah completely awake.

"We're here"


	4. Chapter 4

Helena picks up a small rock she found in the cellar and scrapes it across the cold cement floor of the convent cellar, leaving behind a chalky streak. She's been in the cellar for about a week, but it's hard to tell being that she's been down there long enough to lose track of which day of the week it was. She was used to this - being put into the cellar; being in the darkness.

Helena tilts her head to the side, squinting to focus her eyes to see what little she could from the candlelight in the hallway. Again, she scrapes the rock across the surface beneath her feet and sees it does the same as it had before. Slightly amused, she continues to draw stick figures of people with dresses. Some with none. Some tall. Some more diminutive. But all in some strange way, identical copies of one another.

As she draws one with a dress on Helena mutters to herself quietly "And you'll be my friend. You will be my sestra," in an accent that oddly resembles a british one, Helena continues, "Yes. Sestras we shall be. I will protect you, and you me. Always and forever."

The sound of footsteps walking down the stairs that lead to the cellar where Helena resides is heard. Reflexively, she clenches the rock in her fist and scurries into a corner, away from the light, and away from whomever was now entering. Helena curls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around her legs.

More softly now to herself , she repeats, "Always and forever".

For a moment there is silence and Helena crawls back towards the light. She reaches for the bars that trap her, and looks between them in the direction of the sounds she heard. For a moment, there's nothing but silence, but then she begins to hear something again.

"Helena," a voice echoed from in the darkness of the cellar, and Helena recognizes it immediately. Sister Anna. Fear surges through Helena, knowing what she'd done to her the last time they came face to face.

Soon, Sister Anna, or someone that resembled Sister Anna, steps out of the darkness. Her skin is paler, the shadows casted by the darkness in the cellar make her eyes invisible, her neck is bleeding and the white of her habit is stained with seemingly fresh blood.

Young Helena keeps her head down, not daring to look into the hollowness of the nun's eyes.

"Helena!" Sister Anna says, more demanding this time. Helena doesn't look up, instead she crawls as far away from the entity standing before her as the cellar allows. She covers her eyes and resumes the position she was in before. The little girl starts to mumble to herself. "The Lord is my shepherd I sh-"

"The Lord does not answer the prayers of demons, child." Sister Anna interrupts.

Helena starts rocking back and forth, Helena buries her head even deeper into her thighs and covers her ears, louder and quicker this time. "Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil."

Sister Anna starts laughing menacingly. Helena hearing this repeats the prayer over and over louder and louder as the the nun's laughter and hateful words ring louder in her ear.

"You are an abomination, you don't not belong here," Sister Anna exclaimed.

"I shall fear no evil for the Lord art with me" Helena says unevenly.

"You are from no God of mine!"

"Ye though I walk through the valley -"

"You are from man."

"Of the shadow of death."

"You are the product of sin!"

"I shall fear no evil!" Helena screams, and as each tear falls down her cheek, she scratches at it savagely.

"You are NOT MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD! YOU ARE A DEFILED COPY!" Sister Anna screams.

Helena lunges from her spot at the spot toward Sister Anna, but as she reaches to wrap her arms around her to knock her to the ground, her knees hit the cement. No one's there. No one but her and her thoughts. Helena lays on the floor and cries even louder. She lets go of the rock that was in her hand and blood flows from her palm.

For a moment she's alone, and then she hears the sound of slow, steady footsteps walking down the stairs. She quickly wipes the tears from her eyes and goes into a corner, expecting the illusion to return. She trembles with fear and adrenaline. She may be afraid, but she's not too afraid to pounce on the next person that comes at her.

She hears one of the sisters speaking to someone, "She's the devil's child. She killed Sister Anna at feast. She spouts lies about having a family." The footsteps cease for a second and then continue.

"Everyone has a family, Sister," a deeper, steady voice replies. It's a man.

Helena, intrigued, creeps to the cellar bars to get a better look. Finally she sees the figure of tall man with curly hair and a black trench coat on. He's carrying a flashlight. He points it at Helena and Helena hisses at him. While the Sister jumps, the man looks curiously at the child. He's not afraid of her. Why isn't he afraid of her?

He walks closer to the little girl that now bares her teeth at him through the bars of her cell. He kneels down and Helena sees this as a threat and strikes him through the space between the iron bars. The large man catches Helena's hand before she could hit him, and pulls the rock out of her hand. He smiles at her. Helena relaxes her face, and for the first time you can see a child. Underneath all of the pain and shelling from all that comes from being the product of an internal and external war, you can see the face of a little girl that has been waiting for someone to just smile at her.

"Hello, little angel," the man says in a gentle tone. "What is your name?"

The man hesitantly reaches his hands towards Helena's face and wipes the tears from beneath her eyes. Helena looks at the nun, who now has a shocked look on her face, and back at the curly haired man with kind eyes. He holds her face in his hands, still through the bars.

"It's alright, I won't harm you. Tell me your name."

"Helena," the small child whispers.

"That's a beautiful name, Helena. My name is Tomas," A sinister smile spreads across Tomas' face, the smile of a devil, no doubt. "And I'm here to bring you to your family."


End file.
